Engraved Photo Wall Hanging - Shiba Inu
Instruction
I wanted to do something special for my brother. I have been doing images on sublimation projects for him of his cat and two Border Collies and know that he really misses his previous fur child "Foxy" who was a Shiba Inu. Foxy was a very energetic boy and also very smart, my brother took him just about everywhere with him and then obviously age came along and so did the terrible Arthritis, my brother tried everything to make his life as comfortable as he could but sometimes you just have to do the right thing which is also a very sad part in one's life when having to say good-bye.
I know my brother will love this and he has no idea what I have done, I think maybe he thinks I am doing something on a mug or plaque, so this will be a pleasant surprise when I see him in February. I hope if you love this breed of dog, that you are happy to engrave this image yourself obviously remove the name.
My brother sent me several photo's and there were some good ones but part of Foxy's ear was missing. This particular photo was a full bodied one but I wanted to capture his face more than anything so I cropped the phot and changed it to grayscale. I had a play around with the different grayscale settings so that it would engrave nicely and then chose Jarvis. You will see in the image the final setting I decided to go with.
I played around with a few fonts and decided on the Edwardian script. Once I had sized it to the size I was wanting I then pulled it across to the image and rotated it to -30 which is just a nice angle. I was originally going to score it but I felt it need a bit more strength so decided to engrave instead.
For the image I added an outline and placed it at .01 so that it fit snug to the image. I then went to the side panel and did a circle at .5 of an inch and copied. I placed the circles where I wanted them to cut holes for placing a nice thick Jute through. I then decided I wanted to have two rectangular pieces for the back of the wall hanging so that it will sit nicely on a hook hanging on the wall or door, I did these at 6 inches x .6 of an inch.
I then sent them through for framing and cutting.
I then sent the images off for engraving and then cutting. Foxy's image was engraved first and once it was done, I realigned for where his name was going and sent for framing then engraving.
After the engraving was completed I set the cut path for cutting around his image. When that was completed I then did the circle cutouts and finally the rectangles were cut in a separate area.
After I had all pieces completed I cleaned the image with Isopropyl Alcohol and allowed to dry.
Once it was dry I turned it over and glued the rectangle pieces to the top and bottom of the back with Tiger Glue.
I then decided I wanted the image to have a slightly tinted varnish to keep it looking good.
When that was dry I then added the jute and tied it in a knot to the front of the image, I wanted a bit of a rustic look, this is why I chose the thick jute.
The first photo you see at the top of the page is how it looks naturally, when I hung it on the door for the second image, the lighting made it look orange in colour.
I hope if you choose to download and make this that you have as much fun as I did creating it!